Modern Warfare 2 Season 5 Reloaded has an alternative to disbanding lobbies, sort of

If you follow the discourse around Call of Duty from a certain segment of the player base, you’ll no doubt have heard the cries about disbanding lobbies, which has over the years taken on a sort of mythical status that YouTubers and the most dedicated players always claim would make the experience better for everyone if it got removed.

Modern Warfare 2, like its predecessors, disbands every lobby after the match is over, which is likely necessary to how the game’s matchmaking works, as it constantly reevaluates player performance and moves them around into more suitable lobbies.

While this doesn’t look like it’s changing, Infinity Ward has made a concession that could, in theory, keep teams together. Season 5 reloaded – which arrives tomorrow, August 30 at 9am PT / 12pm ET / 5pm BST – adds the Play Again feature.

Play Again comes from Warzone, but it has a bigger impact on multiplayer. All party leaders, including solo players in their own party, will be asked whether they want to stick with the same team. This only occurs within the same team, not the entire lobby.

With Modern Warfare 3 bringing back map voting, this sort of half measure to lessen the effects of disbanding lobbies could be a test for the full removal of the feature down the line.

As noted in the blog post for Season 5 Reloaded, there’s also the new Friend Recommender feature, with suggests friends of friends for you to play with. But it can also suggest other random people to befriend.

The post explains that recommendations are based on a multitude of factors, such as being in similar social groups, playing at similar times, having a preference for certain game modes and other behaviours.

The blog post also confirmed that Season 5 will not be the last for Modern Warfare 2, teasing that Season 6 will be the one that links Modern Warfare 2 with Modern Warfare 3. As for this year’s game, the next big moment is Call of Duty Next on October 5, which will unveil multiplayer one day before the first beta weekend starts.